The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-07-07

whitewashed stables, sweet smelling
through the use of lime and plaster,
present a beautiful contrast to their
appearance in past years. Here we
find excellent representatives of the
Guernsey, Jersey, Shorthorn, Ayr
shire and Holstein breeds Of dairy
stock, Berkshire and small Yorkshire
swine and Southdown sheep. The
signs tell the amateur where each
class of stock is kept, and the pedi-
gree of each is supposed~on a handy
tablet near by. The stables are
furnished with nearly all the different
kinds of tie-ups SO that the student
may compare them in actual opera
ton.
THE NATURAL HISTORY DEPARTMENT
has assumed a deserved prominence
which it has not before occupied for
years. Prof. G.. II. Fernald is a de-
voted enthusiast and a competent ex-
pert, and is successful as a teacher be-
cause he imparts his own enthusiasm
to his students. In addition to the
dry details of "bugology" which the
text books furnish, the students are
required to collect insects, bring them
into the class room, and mount and
name them before the class, under the
direction of the professor. After this
practical Introductory training, the
students mount their collections at
their W rooms. In geology, the
lectures are illustrated by charts and
blackboard sketches, supplemented by
excursions about the farm and through
out the neighboring country. In the
study of animals, after mastering the
principles, the bones Of different do
nestle animals are jumbled together
on a table, and the student is required
to pick them out, name them and set
them up in their proper place in the
skeleton. After this has been learned
with specimens from the skeletons of
healthy animals, the bones of diseased
animals are substituted, thus making
the student acquainted with the con-
ditions of health and disease, so that
his knowledge of the animal structure
may be applied in practical farming.
All this is not done with all the classes
at once, but each class goes through
this training as it arrives at that stage
in the college course.
OTHER KINDS OF WORK.
Space will not permit us to detail
the work in the other departments of
the college. Prof. Maynard in the
botanical and horticultural depart
ment, continues the good work which
has characterized his section of the
institution. He has for years used
practical illustrations in his botanical
lectures according to the principle
which is now being applied SO success
fully by the professor Of agriculture.
We were unable to hear Prof. yelling
ton lecture on chemistry. He has
charge Of a large part of the instruc-
ton in this department., DR.. Goess-
mann's time being mostly occupied at
the experiment station; but the lat
ter's lectures on applied chemistry be-
fare the higher classes form a promi-
nent feature of the course. Prof.
Warmers department of mathematics
and physics has been much enlarged.
THE EXPERIMENT STATION.
Director Goessman is branching out
in the work of the experiment station
in a way that will please farmers and
others who have been inclined to
criticise the management as too con-
fined and too scientific. Perhaps the
previous conservatism was necessary
in order to get the stations work
properly begun but with more means
and land, an effort is now being made
to test on a practical scale those crops
which have proved most promising in
the experimental plots. An acre of
horse bean, a very rich leguminous
plant, will challenge the attention of
the intelligent observer. The station
laboratory is doing a large amount OF